Heart of a Hero
by Reverse Keyblade
Summary: Post Jak3 and JakX: Jak wakes up one morning and thinks about just how lucky he is, despite all that's happened to him in his pastand how lucky he is to have a certain girl in his arms at the end of it all.


(A/N: Well, I'm reposting my Jak and Daxter fanfic—it's unfortunate, since it got sooo many reviews the first go around. I used to be supersaiyajin3. Ah well…it's just business. Had to change my sn, so that was that. Anyways, it's a Jak/Keira ficlet, and I hope you readers enjoy! Take a look at my KH fic too that I just finished!) R/R please!

Disclaimer: Jak and Daxter is the property of Naughty Dog

_Blink._

_Blink. _

A young man with rugged blonde hair and long, elvin ears opened his crystal blue eyes. He yawned, his gaze slowly falling on the beautiful aquamarine-haired young woman next to him.

_Keira.._

The young couple had finally gotten married, but it was still new to Jak; he had never expected to ever feel so complete in his new life in Haven City. It had been the happiest moment of his life when Keira had accepted his proposal for marriage in the middle of Haven Forest. Now his eyes traveled over her gorgeous figure once more, and a light blush tinged his face, remembering the night of passion they had just shared with one another. Everything had felt so…._perfect_. She meant the world to him; they had just never been able to express that to one another, due to the ill-timed interruptions of his furry friend, Daxter. He remembered the fear that she would be afraid of committing her life to someone like him; that she would be afraid of him and his Dark and Light abilities. Jak sat up in the bed, looking around their room, and was silent.

_It's still an odd feeling…_ mused Jak to himself, and snuggled back next to Keira as she started to move around, due to the feeling of missing body heat in the bed. He put his arm around her and smiled.

_Though I really can't complain…I haven't seen times this peaceful since my days back in Sandover._

Times where he was a carefree and innocent hero; during his years in Haven City he had suffered, compliments of the late Baron Praxis. The young hero had done his best to forget the horrible torture he had undergone during the "Dark Warrior Program", having been given injections of Dark Eco by the dear Baron. Fortunately, the Precursors balanced his terrible dark side with a side of glorious light, releasing the grip the darkness held over his heart. Even though he was no longer as innocent as he used to be, he felt almost carefree once again. Jak closed his eyes for a moment, smiled, and opened them again, his gaze full of the beautiful mechanic sleeping adorably next to him. The ring forged of Precursor Metal shone brightly on her finger.

_Things,_ thought Jak,_ change. Though if this was the only way Keira and I could be together, then I would do it all over again._

Jak slowly extricated himself from his wife, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Going over to the dresser, he began to don his blue shirt and white pants, and buckled on his chest protector. It was strange not wearing his armor every Mar forsaken moment, but, like everything else, it just took some getting used to. After all, who needed armor? He defeated Gol and Maia without it; all you needed were some good fighting skills and a furry Ottsel on your shoulder. It was different now, though, Jak wasn't even sure if he truly wanted to go back to saving the world again if he was needed. It might have been a selfish wish, but the young hero never really had the time to put himself first.

"Hmmm… "a melodic female voice yawned softly. "Jak? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Keir, nothing," he replied, calling her by his shortened version of her name. "I had just been thinking—that's all."

"About what?" Keira replied, sitting up, wanting to make sure her husband was okay. At least Jak could talk to her now—as a boy in Sandover, they had managed to carry on a relationship of sorts without him barely muttering a word—and even so, they always managed to clear things up.

"About how lucky I am, I guess," answered Jak, "Even though I've suffered some, I have everything I could have ever asked for. I have you by my side…." Keira smiled warmly at this," A place to stay, and everyone that was with us on that journey from Sandover—you, me, your father, Daxter—we've all survived!" He came over and put his arm around her waist.

"You did great things, Jak!" exclaimed Keira, "Even my daddy says so, and you know how much he picked on you in Sandover! And there's nothing I wouldn't do to be with you, it's just…I wish we could see Sandover again…"

"Yeah, I know," Jak sighed wistfully, "Me too." An idea suddenly popped into his head, and he decided that the next free chance he had, he would give Samos a visit about this matter. "How about we go visit Dax and see what our furry buddy's up to?"

"Probably something illegal, no doubt. You better not know about anything he's up to!" Said Keira with her dangerous glint in her eye. Jak mouthed the words "me?" and put on an innocent expression. Her glare darkened. He chuckled.

"Look, Keir, I'm serious, if Dax has gotten himself into trouble, I really didn't have anything to do with it!" Her look softened, and she smiled, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

"I believe you. Now let's get ready and go on over to the Naughty Ottsel, and then we can go to my race garage!" Jak sighed in exasperation. "What?"

"Keir, the last time we went over to the race garage you completely…took apart…my morph-gun!" Keira went over and began to change into her tight top and her mechanic outfit.

"Oh, don't worry Jak, I'll put it back together, besides, you get to test drive my new zoomer! Jak?" She turned around, to see that he had fainted. Keira smiled—it was well known that Jak had grown to be rather fearful of her new high-speed racing zoomers, ever since he and Daxter had attempted to drive one through the city. _Or maybe we can both work on it, then._ She thought, continuing to grin as she grabbed her zoomer goggles.

It was mid-morning in Haven City, and a certain Ottsel couple were cleaning up the Naughty Ottsel and preparing it for the day.

Well.

_One _of them was. Tess was humming happily to herself, putting the drinks away on the easy-to reach- shelf. It was necessary—after all, it was now impossible for them to reach to high shelves.

"Daxter?" The female called into the back area of the Naughty Ottsel, where their private residence was.

"I'm coming baby!" yelled the Ottsel sidekick in the backroom. Daxter, or "Orange Lightning", as he liked to be called, spun into the room, knocking over several bottles with his tail, generally causing more of a mess than there was in the first place. Tess sighed, and while smiling, shook her head.

"Come here, my Daxxie-poo," she purred. Daxter gave her one fuzzy kiss, exclaimed,

"Hey, I can take on 20 Metal Heads at the same time, hot stuff! I can clean up the mess _you _made, and you can go and relax!" Like typical Daxter, he was blaming everyone _but _himself. But to Tess, it only made him more adorable.

"Okay, Daxter, I'll go back and…freshen up… for today, okay?" Tess smiled and gave him a little wink, scampering off to the back of the bar.

_10 Minutes Later…._

Jak opened the door to the Naughty Ottsel, letting Keira go in first in a very gentlemanly—like manner. The two slowly walked in, not exactly sure what to expect from Daxter.

"Daxter?" called out Jak, and he looked over to Keira, who shrugged at him in a confused manner. Then he heard something rolling around the back of the bar, and had to restrain himself from laughing when he saw Daxter rolling around with the lower half of his body stuck in one of the bottles. He then began chuckling, and so did Keira, when Daxter yelled in his most obnoxious voice,

"If it's not Precursor crap, it's a wine bottle! It _is_ a curse, isn't it? A curse!" Jak, failing to exercise restraint, laughed as he proceeded to yank his Ottsel companion out of the bottle. Keira smiled, seeing Jak enjoying himself so much.

_Laughter. It's been so long since I heard Jak laugh so much. _ Keira was happy to see him enjoy himself so much , several years ago she had been scared that he would forever be changed by the Dark Eco injections given to him by the Baron. She could almost recall their first reunion in Haven like it was just yesterday:

"_Daxter!" Cried Keira, running out from behind the curtain and squeezing his Ottsel face, "It is you! I never thought I'd be so glad to see your furry little mug! And Jak…" she said slowly, with uncertainty, "You look, different…" Too late, she bit back her remark, seeing the small hurt in his eyes. _

_"It's been a tough ride." He replied slowly, looking at the ground. _

_"Yeah!" Piped up Daxter, "The Baron pumped our boy here full of Dark Eco! Now he has SUPER moves or something!" The Ottsel whispered, "…and a few anger issues as well…"_

Keira eventually realized that it had been foolish for her to worry—and even when Jak was infused with Light Eco, she knew that it wouldn't have mattered either way. They had, and always would, care for each other, and that was enough. She let out a small laugh, and walked over to help Jak clean up the mess that Daxter had left in the bar.

(A/N: Well, there's another oneshot of goodness! Please review it everyone! Let me know what you think. )

Keybladem


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